Verboten: The Fairy Path
by Kikurukina Bal Des'cagel
Summary: Verboten  GERMAN: forbidden, prohibited, banned. Roxy unwillingly embarks on a journey to discover what she is and will decide where her place in the universe is.
1. Preface

June 13, 2011

Hello Reader,

As you may or may not know, this story is a rewrite of a story that was posted about two years ago called Verboten. (I will keep the original up on this account for archival purposes.) It is not necessary to read that version because there are major differences and you will just confuse yourself more than anything else.

Hopefully, my writing will have improved after all the feedback I had received.

I would like to thank everyone who has supported and/or reviewed Verboten in the first version: anony, Stella, CassandraOfLight, Blosiom, Darev, Winx Fairy (Phoebe/SolarianSunshine), sarahstarr, Stills and Photographs, Robert Teague, CheshireCat2008, just, tears-in-rain, LadyTerade, Azka Winx Girl, anonymous123, Bloomerica Of WinxClub4Ever, floraHelialover, XxprincesswinternamineXx, Regin, Kiwi0, heliaxasta, summerlovin76, anonymous as well as everyone else that I did not name and the users at the Winx Writers Anonymous forum.

Thanks for sticking with me through forty-four chapters of craziness.

- Kikurukina


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

* * *

><p>It was almost midnight on a chilly summer night. The season was almost over. Roxy yawned wearily as she tried to catch up on some reading. However, she was reading no ordinary textbook. She was reading '<em>Basic Magic: Level One<em>'—a magic textbook. She was in the storage room of the Frutti Music Bar taking a break. The music from the bar boomed obnoxiously loud into the backroom behind the bar. She sat on a crate and dipped her hand into a bag of potato chips.

It was an old elementary book of spells from Flora, one of Roxy's new acquaintances, who had used it to study from when she was a child. Bloom, another new acquaintance, had used it during her first year to catch up and now, Roxy was learning from it. There was occasional line of helpful notes was written in by Bloom. Roxy had never tried any of the spells yet because inwardly, it was simply too incredible to believe that such a book existed. It seemed to come out of the realm of Harry Potter.

Roxy continued reading and ate more chips. She heard someone open the storage room door and the music spill in.

"Studying, hmm?"

Roxy, startled, jumped on her seat on the crate and hid the book behind her back, embarrassed. She so did not want to be found with such an incredulous book in her hands. Her face automatically became tomato-red, a failure to control the fact that she was doing something weird, and she tried to sit on her book.

"Oh, h-hi, Sky!" she stuttered, eyes wide and cheeks blazing.

Sky smiled. "We're going to start restocking soon." Sky walked between the shelves searching for boxes of drinks.

"I'll help then."

"I thought you finished hours ago."

"I did…but I wanted to stay and wait for my dad."

"I would think that I would be the last person that one would hide a magic book from, Roxy."

"Yeah…" she said nervously.

She watched Sky's profile carefully. There was an air about him that made stick out from everyone around him. It was not just him either. His friends had the same otherworldly attraction too and it annoyed Roxy. They acted so human yet it felt plastic.

Sky's eyes were an unnatural shade of icy blue that almost glowed and he had unfashionable chin-length gold hair although it did not detract from his handsomeness.

As far as she knew, he had no magic. He and his friends, Brandon, Riven, Helia and Nabu worked at the bar as waiters and also acted as conveniently placed bodyguards. (Their other friend Timmy worked at a computer company.) They were some sort of specialised soldiers from outer space, or at least not from Earth, and their girlfriends—Bloom, Stella, Musa, Aisha, Tecna and Flora—were the Winx Club, a group of fairies. Not that long ago, they had dropped the still incredibly unbelieveable fact that she was a fairy on her.

"How is it coming along with the magic?" he asked. He looked like he knew that she was hiding the book behind her.

Roxy placed the book on her lap. "It's…weird."

"It's never easy to study by one's self. You know, if you have questions, you can always ask."

"I know, but I just never thought that I would be studying magic of all things..."

He smiled understandingly although the action felt plastic to Roxy.

"Everyone has magic, whether it is a teaspoon of it or a vast ocean. They just need to find it inside themselves and let it rush out. Have you tried any magic yet?"

"No."

He smiled again. "There's no rush."

"Yeah."

"But it would be a benefit to you if started though," he said. Sky hefted boxes of sodas off a pallet and returned to the chaotic happenings of the bar.

"…yeah, about that," Roxy said diffidently.

* * *

><p>Monday, June 13, 2011: Changed "Layla" to "Aisha." Grammatical corrections.<p> 


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

* * *

><p>Roxy liked to consider herself as a normal girl, like every other girl did. Like any teenager she yearned to fit in yet she wanted to stand out against the masses of boring faces and assert her own unique identity. She did that very well with her characteristic waist-length pink hair streaked with blond. No one could work the hairstyle as well as she did nor could anyone match her compassion for other creatures like she did. She valued life. This was her single great failing though.<p>

She could not help but help animals in need.

When she was seven and visiting a zoo in Hamburg with her father Klaus, a tiger had escaped from its enclosure. In the commotion, Roxy had gotten away from Klaus, eager to see a tiger upfront. She found where the tiger had decided to hide itself and watched it, refusing to move away.

It should be noted that animals in captivity are not creatures deprived of freedom, not especially when all their basic needs were more than satisfied by Man. Misinformed people think that animals are "happy" when they are "free." That is nonsense. The average person usually imagines a large and regal predator such as the lion. They imagine the lion roaming the savannah as free as the wind and that there is no shortage of prey for them to gnaw on. They imagine this animal tenderly raising its young and enjoying the beauty of nature. This is not reality, it is fiction pervaded through anthropomorphised lions from the movie _The Lion King_. When the magnificent cat is captured by greedy humans who throw it into a tiny cage, they think that the lion can no longer find happiness. Being captured, it does all it can to escape the clutches of the humans before it is too late. That is not true.

Wild animals are being of compulsion and necessity that in an unforgiving society of kill or be killed. They do not care for human social conventions. While they may be free in terms of space, they will never be free of the gruelling task of hunting and gathering food to survive another day.

On the other hand, a zoo provides food every day and medical attention in exchange for the small enclosure an animal must endure.

Between these two options: living in the savannah where one must hunt daily and living in a zoo where one is given food daily, the choice is obvious.

Animals also do not respond well to the unknown. Contrary to popular thought, having a chance to escape in the form of a wide-open door makes it very nervous. It is a source of stress because the lion does not know where it goes.

Whatever had happened in Hamburg to cause the tiger to leave the safety of its enclosure to hide in a copse trees near the visitors, no one would know for sure. Maybe a loud sound had scared it or it had smelt the blood on the air of a freshly killed prey.

Standing with her canine companion Artú at her side, Roxy approached the orange beast much to her father's horror.

The zoo had been closed and that particular area had been cordoned off. The tiger, called Houdini, lied prone and eyed everything nervously. He was a young tiger that had recently moved to the zoo.

Klaus was forced to stay back by the zookeepers. They did not want him to scare the tiger into doing something drastic. Young Roxy snorted loudly or did something that Klaus was not quite sure he could make out. Roxy snorted again in a very loud and unladylike manner catching the tiger's attention and shivers climbed up Klaus's spine. Roxy did it for several long moments. Klaus was prepared to run and grab Roxy but the zookeepers prevented him.

Slowly, Houdini crawled out of the copse of trees. He was cautious and wary of the zookeepers surrounding him. The strange creatures before him looked playful. They were smaller and strangely coloured. He was tense, waiting for them to attack. They never did.

There was a slender four-legged creature yapping around the little girl. The girl eyed him occasionally and would chuffle. There was no fear, no anger and no perceivable danger about her. Roxy chuffled again. She was peaceful.

Had Houdini only met another creature that wanted to play? He wanted to know. Taking tentative steps forward, Houdini was glad to know that Roxy did not back away. He chuffled in response.

"Ist das Prusten?" the zookeeper near Klaus said.

"Ich weiss nicht. Roxy, komm her." Klaus edged his way to his daughter.

Roxy did not hear her father, or ignored him. She showed an empty hand to Houdini. He regarded it sceptically. The dog, fearless as ever, approached Houdini, growled and then returned to Roxy. She petted Artú and Houdini saw this.

He pawed at the outstretched hand and jumped back when it reached for him. Roxy showed both hands. He jumped up to paw both of them. The little girl stood her ground and balanced the tiger. His claws, although sharp, did not hurt her.

"Rawr!" Roxy giggled childishly. She pawed at Houdini. They were a ball of hugs on the grass. She chased him but she was no match. She ran and he playfully pounced on her.

Klaus felt no danger in the tiger's behaviour even though he should have been. He could not get angry at it, not truly. It was playing with his daughter. Then he remembered: Houdini was a tiger, a dangerous animal. Dumbfounded by the strange tableau before him, he did the only thing that seemed right.

Sternly, he called for his daughter. "Roxy, komm her!"

She stiffened and to look up at her father. She could hear the deep tone of displeasure in his voice. The tiger stopped and its tail curled nervously. She returned to her father with her gaze to the ground.

"What are you doing, Roxy?"

"I…I'm sorry."

"You're playing with a dangerous animal."

Artú circled Houdini still. The zookeepers marvelled at what had happened.

"But he's not. He's alone," she said quietly.

Houdini followed the hound in circles. Klaus could not understand what was happening. He found the situation unbearable. A good five meters away, Houdini hesitated about coming near Klaus. A zookeeper tempted the tiger with meat. Houdini looked at it, somewhat interested, and then promptly ignored it. Again, Houdini snorted. Klaus found the behaviour extraordinary. He could not understand what the tiger was doing. Roxy surreptitiously looked to Houdini and did the same snorting sound. The tiger's tail perked up and Klaus held Roxy firmly. He had enough of this madness.

He grasped Roxy's hand firmly so that she would not run away again and began to walk away with a zookeeper escorting them. Houdini yowled loudly, a sign of his sadness.

"See. He's alone again," Roxy said.

"No," Klaus said sternly.

"But—"

"Nein, Roxy! Artú!" Klaus whistled for the young Tyrolean hound and left the zoo.

Months later, Klaus and his family of one girl and one hound moved to Gardenia to work for his shipping company. In his day, he had seen the world and sailed some fine vessels but the arrival of his daughter in his life forced him to change careers and get a job on dry land. Working for the shipping company still required him to move from city to city and country to country. Roxy's passport was as colourful as a child's colouring book. Raising Roxy on land near civilisation felt right to him. He knew that he could never teach her as well as a mother could about woman things but he certainly did try his best.

Time marched on leisurely and Klaus eventually tucked the horrible memory of the Hamburg tiger to oblivion and Roxy forgot about the encounter. She grew up to be like any teenager: moody and rebellious.

Klaus could not help but think that he had failed as a parent though when he raised Roxy. With never really having a single home and no guiding feminine figure in her life, Roxy had developed into a lone wolf of sorts.

OOOO

At first, there was a voice.

A woman's voice, speaking softly, melodically, as if every syllable was a musical note beside her ear in Roxy's dreaming mind.

The words were incoherent but they were worried.

Finally, they relaxed, being reassured.

It made Roxy feel warm.

Roxy mounted her horse with a practised ease. The mare tittered from hoof to hoof. Her name was Girlie, or at least, she responded to the name Girlie fairly well. Roxy could feel the mare's nervousness of having an unknown weight on her back.

Roxy was on a farm. It was non-distinct but familiar at the same time. There were trees in every direction but a dismaying amount of clear-cut trunks.

She urged her horse forward with the click of her tongue and they moved up the path towards the forest. The trees got denser and denser until she had to leave Girlie behind.

Bloom, Stella, Flora, Musa, Tecna and Aisha walked beside her in the thick woods. The next moment, they had bright colourful fairy wing protruding from their backs. They giggled and flew on ahead.

She ran after them over mossy rocks, fallen logs and creeks. They left golden trails of dust behind them. She brushed branches out of her face.

It was exhilarating!

Then she found herself flying over treetops. Green blurred in her vision.

She stopped and found herself facing a farm again. It was a different one. It was night-time and smoke danced from the smokestack.

Roxy turned. There was another person beside her, but because of the darkness, she could not tell what this person looked like save for the fact that it was most definitely a woman and she had thick long hair.

"Hello, Roxy."

"Hi."

"Do you know what I am?"

Roxy looked at her more intently. The woman had glowing wings protruding from her back.

"You're…a fairy." This surprised Roxy immensely.

Then Roxy woke up with the dream immediately forgotten.

OOOO

Roxy had a day off. She stumbled out of bed numbly. There was a melancholia that would not leave her alone. Every day, she would wake up frightened and wondering if she truly was a fairy and whether or not the fairies who were secretly masquerading as the workers from the Love & Pet shop were real. Then she would get dress and every morning, she would look under her stack of shirts to see if Flora's magic book was really hidden under there. It was. Roxy got dressed, started the laundry, fed Artú and took him out for a walk. She felt numb as a machine, unsure of what to think. Her dad was already gone for work.

She wished she had answers, but she did not know what questions to ask. She suddenly had twelve strangers telling her that she was a fairy that there were four evil men trying to kill her for her magic. It was beyond incredulous but it was the reality she had to live with.

The phone rang when Roxy entered the house. It was her father.

"You awake, kiddo?"

Roxy rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dad."

"You alright?"

Roxy tried to sound chipper. He reminded her that she needed to go to the groceries. Grateful, for a sense of normalcy, Roxy diligently threw herself into the mundane task of writing down what they needed.

"One last thing, you're always alone. That isn't good. Go out and make some friends or something then. Human ones."

"Ha-ha, Dad," she said sarcastically. She was constantly bothered by her father's remarks to be more social.

"I'm serious, Roxy."

"I have friends, Dad."

"Besides Andy, or anyone who works with you."

"…"

"Roxy, get out of the house and go to the beach. You're not going to stay in the house. I know that you'll just pick up a stray somehow if you do. And just don't pick up strays, please."

She sighed. "Fine."

They ended their conversation quickly.

Not long after that, there was a knock on the front door. It was the exotic-looking Flora. Flora was tanned and had an unparalleled loveliness she had never seen before but Roxy could not quite decide what ethnicity she was.

"Hello, Roxy. How are you? Have you eaten yet?"

"Not yet."

"Wonderful! Would you like to come out and eat with us at the shop for lunch? I'm going out to pick up food since our kitchen isn't really ready yet." From what Roxy understood about the Winx Club's living arrangement on Earth, they lived in the loft on top of the Love & Pet magical pet shop and their loft upstairs was not quite finished being renovated.

Roxy could not help it but she smelt something faint on the air. It was not thickly sugary but beheld a tasteful sweetness. Roxy had never smelled anything so strange. She took a step back. It was not suffocating but bellicose to her nose.

Timidly, Flora looked like she was about to leave because Roxy had not answered her. Roxy realised that the scent was from her.

"If I'm bothering you, you don't need to come…." Flora said shyly.

Make friends, her father had told her, make human friends….

No, she would go with this fairy and get some answers, not to make friends. She wanted this madness to go away. It was a bad dream concocted from a society too hyped up on _Harry Potter _series.

"I'll go."

"Really? Great!"

"Just let me get some things." Roxy retrieved her wallet and leashed Artú. They followed Flora out to the boulevard. Artú looked nervous around Flora and stood close to Roxy's side. He was still trying to get used to Flora. Roxy understood that he could tell that nothing was normal with Flora.

"So where are you going to get the food?" Roxy started casually.

"Actually, I wasn't totally sure. I was hoping you would make a suggestion because you work with food."

"You knew I was coming?" she said suspiciously

"No, I just thought it would be nice to see you, even for a minute."

Roxy's face became flush. "…thank you."

"So where are we eating today?" Flora asked.

"I don't know."

"Let's see where our feet bring us today then."

Along the way, Flora asked many questions: "What is that? What is this flower called? So beautiful; do you know where else I can find this?"

Roxy could not answer all of her questions but she found Flora's behaviour curious. Her profound interest in anything green was beyond normal. Every now and then, she would stop to look and touch a weed or some other banal plant. The way Flora turned over a leaf to look at its underside and trace the veins was methodical yet animal-like. She explored every detail with all of her senses, even sometimes taste, much Roxy's horror.

Sensing Roxy's gaze, Flora said, "Is there a reason why you don't want to talk to me?"

"It's not that I don`t want to talk to you. I just don't know where to start," Roxy stammered.

"I understand." Flora held a dandelion in her hand and tucked it into her hair. "Do you like…finding out that you are a fairy?"

"No," Roxy said with surety. "I've been chased by crazy people…. Why me of all people?"

"I know the feeling, Roxy, but you should know that you are not alone."

"Yeah, I know. I have you guys to ask about it but I don't know you people. I'm not your friend."

"I understand."

They passed through a park. It was a grandiose park inspired by the style of jardin à la française. Elegant flowers were arranged in strict geometric shapes and trees stood straight like attentive knights. There was not a cloud in the sky and the park was full of people taking advantage of the Sun's warm presence. The park had been recently built in an effort to create more green space for the citizens of Gardenia. It was a result of the global effort to be ecologically friendlier.

She and Flora were cutting through the park to get to the commercial side of Gardenia. A young man jogged by them. Roxy was expecting him to look at her weirdly. Life around her did not seem to acknowledge her change as she did. Flora tried to make meaningless chatter in hopes of catching Roxy's interest.

"You know that you can come to us, if you need to talk."

"Yeah, yeah," Roxy mumbled. "So what were you thinking of eating?"

"I don't know. I didn't think to bring Bloom with me when I left and when I did, it was too late to turn around. I kind of wanted to take a look around and learn but I know that being a foreigner by myself will get me in trouble. So what do you suggest? I want to try something besides pizza and spaghetti."

Roxy stopped in front of a familiar restaurant: Ping's, a Chinese restaurant. Dragons were painted on the windows beside foreign characters. A chalkboard advertised the day's special.

"Um, what does it say?" Flora pointed at the Chinese characters.

"I don't know. It's another language. I know it's just good though. Let's go look at the menu." She waved her over to a picture frame on a brick wall.

Flora pursed her lips. "I don't know any of what this is." Flora could not recognise the already foreign vegetables. "Are you sure this is good?"

"I'm sure."

"You pick. I don't know what to get."

Roxy felt that she was suddenly responsible for Flora. Flora was of course new to Gardenia and to Earth. Her question about the Chinese symbols was a reminder of that. "I'll get something that I'm sure is good but you're going to need to stay with Artú outside. Pets aren't allowed inside."

Flora handed her a heavy wallet. After ordering and paying, Roxy told Flora that they needed to wait for the food. It would take about twenty minutes and there was a flurry of customers already waiting. They walked around the block and Roxy showed her the essentials: groceries, pharmacies, clinics, stores, the train station, etc.

"And that's the Glass Gallery. It's the biggest mall here."

They were walking on a sharply inclined road overlooking the beach and city. They reached a plateau. Binocular stands were placed every few meters to watch the ships sail into port.

Flora leaned over the railings and looked at the panoramic view. A cruise ship was docking. Roxy unleashed Artú. He ran the length of the plateau excitedly.

Flora sighed wistfully. "I miss the forest, the mountains, the trees, the wet moss…. Oceans are nice and so are cities in their own ways but nothing compares to a green forest."

"Then why did you come to Gardenia?"

"Because my friends are here."

"That's it? Don't you have other friends?"

"No. It's because I'm a fairy."

"What do you mean?"

Flora spotted climbing flowers on the railings and began to examine the blooms. "I don't know how to explain it properly," Flora said pensively. Then, she said, "What is that man doing?" She pointed to the far end of the plateau.

Roxy looked. Fear welled inside her. "I don't know. Maybe we should go back anyways. We have to get the food."

"Go on ahead, I'll be right behind you," Flora said. She strode to the end of plateau. A tall man was standing on the perilous side of the railing.

Roxy hesitated between staying and leaving. Whatever the man was doing, she did not want to be a part of. Hesitant to leave Flora alone, Roxy whistled for Artú to come back and they descended the plateau to the Chinese restaurant.

She did not know of what to make of Flora. She acted strange and her appearance was unsettling. She looked human, but at the same time, she could see something instinctive and animal-like in her gestures. Her skin and hair reminded Roxy of the colour of wood. Her green eyes were always sharp and intent on something. She was nimble with her fingers when she worked at the plants she observed. Furthermore, the fact that she would care to smell some of the plants was remarkable. She had never seen a person doing that.

Moreover, what was she supposed to do with her father about the fairies? Should she tell him or not? Surely, she could not keep the fact that she was a fairy a secret from it father forever. He was bound to notice something strange eventually. The fairy pets did not faze him but he was probably being patient with her and her bad habit of picking up strays. Her father had seen worst, she supposed. Klaus was a very patient man and willing to suspend disbelief whenever his daughter was involved but that was because he trusted and loved her. She did not want to lose that.

Her father would have to be blind and deaf to not understand that the new hires were not normal boys. No, "boys" was not the right word. Sky and his friends were the definition of "men." She saw them wield their weapons like hardened warriors of yore yet act with the surprising civility. They were intelligent and educated, maybe not in terms of Earth culture, but nonetheless sharp. She knew what they were capable of and she knew that they should not exist. They did not belong, but very few people could see this.

She remembered the night she met them. She had served them all drinks. The specialists had been at a table in the corner and the girls had sat at the bar. Andy was having a concert. It was the same night she saw the commotion in street between the wizards, fairies and specialists. She thought that it had been some gang fight of sorts. She did not quite understand it. She thought that she might have drunk something spiked by accident or huffed the smell of drugs off the customers too much. Lord knows that there had been a couple of drug busts nearby before. She saw radiant beings surrounded by coronae of inexplicable light.

The parking had been destroyed as well as a few cars and the police had come too late to see anything. And then faster than the eye could blink, Roxy shivered and saw that the parking lot and cars were good as new. Believing that everyone was suffering a massively uniform delusion, the bar had closed early. Roxy still did not know what had happened to the parking lot but she knew that something beyond her comprehension was at work. She tricked herself into believing that she had drunk something spiked. It had been the only plausible explanation.

"You are a fairy," Bloom had said to her.

Bloom had a weird way of interacting with her. She acted like she could get chummy with her anytime or as if they had known each other for years. Roxy was uncomfortable with that but was willing to tolerate the behaviour. Bloom was not from Earth and for all Roxy knew, Bloom was displaying a typical behaviour from Magix or Alfea or wherever they came from. Bloom seemed to pick up quickly the gestures and manners of the people of Gardenia though. It was sort of frightening in the way that she knew everyone. Roxy wondered how she got away with it because Bloom was the least conspicuous person ever. Her hair was like dancing flames in the wind and no one could miss her in a crowd of a thousand. Her vibrancy could not be ignored.

Angels. Roxy thought she had seen angels fighting in the parking lot that first night. They radiated so much light that was the only possible thing they could be. They had wings that matched the radiance of stars and danced in the air fighting the incarnations of the Devil.

Roxy berated herself for such thoughts. She was not that religious but the day that Bloom had dropped the truth on her had truly tested her faith and mettle. She still had her doubts about being a fairy. She had not sprouted wings nor could she do any spells despite hiding a spell book in her bedroom.

Roxy stepped out of Ping's carrying several bags. She would wait for Flora to come down. Ping's was located on a narrow cobblestone street. The view between the roofs was like a road paved with the bright blue sky. Fortunately, she could see the edge of the plateau which was more like a precipice protruding out the side of the mountain. She could see the railings and Flora was talking to the man from before.

Roxy's heart dropped like a stone. Her keen eyes saw something that she thought would never see. Like birds diving after prey, they fell.

She saw a vision of horror: the sky was black as soot and was streaked with lightning of eerie purple and blue. Shivers rode up her spine. The icy wind blew in her face. All the hairs on her arms stood on end. She saw Flora and the man fall and then…BOOM! They were hit by blue lightning.

She blinked the nightmare out of her eyes. What was wrong with her? As if ants were crawling up her skin, she shivered violently. Then the vision disappeared. It was a fleeting jamais vu.

She saw Flora falling off the precipice after the other man. Like a flower blooming, her wings sprouted from her back. Her clothes metamorphosed into delicate petals and leaves over her body.

The fairy pulled the man against her and pulled out of the dive with strong wings. She soared over the roofs. The bulky man dangled from her hands. She was apparently strong enough to do it.

Roxy watched in muted fascination. She imagined that angels would be like Flora. She and Artú followed after Flora who was circling above a plaza. It was crowded by people seeking lunch. Flora circled slowly until she was low enough to drop the man and land. The plaza was quiet. Their eyes were all on the same person. There were whispers of "angels" and "demons." Everyone was still.

Roxy stood on a bench to see over everyone's head. The man was on the ground backing away from Flora. The crowd circled around the two. Flora's wings made her tower over the people. She held something over the man. It looked like she was pouring something over him. The man glowed and the whispers in the square took on a fevered pitch. The crowded was tightly knit. Flora looked about, like a cornered animal. She flew away like a silent guardian angel.

Roxy wondered what had happened.

The crowd did not disperse. Flora reappeared several minutes later beside Roxy and Artú in her normal clothes. Something in Flora's demeanour had changed. Her eyes were wary of everything. She was on edge. She motioned for them to get going.

"What happened? Why did you change, er, transform?" Roxy asked as she handed some bags of food to Flora. They furtively avoided the crowd and made their way to the other end of the plaza.

"That man…something was wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll tell you later. Just stay beside me." Flora walked at a brisk pace.

"Is it the wizards?"

"I don't know."

"You were hit with lightning."

Flora stopped. "What? No, I wasn't."

"I saw it in a vision-thing. There was thunder and it hit you. It…looked real." She told her exactly what she saw.

Gone was the curious and shy personality. Her serious tone was scaring Roxy.

"Just keep it to yourself for now. Don't tell the others just yet. Let's go bring lunch to the other girls. They must be hungry."

They returned to the Love & Pet shop quickly and they all ate lunch but Roxy could not help think that she was hiding something that she was supposed to tell them. The others did not think notice anything strange.

Since Love & Pet was a magical pet shop, Roxy could not help but be fascinated by the fairy pets, in particular how Flora worked the medical station. Her medical centre was not like the veterinarian's office but more like a kitchen. Everything was sterile like any doctor's office but homey. She could not help but look at her supplies and compare them to the spice rack of the Frutti Music Bar. There were no strange bottles with complicated names or multi-coloured pills. There were jars and jars of leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds and a fridge full of all sorts of disgusting-looking concoctions.

Flora pulled the dividing curtain closed. The noise did not abate from the noisy shop. Flora started, "That man, he was about to commit suicide, but he smelt like...bad magic. I could see a spell written on him." She began to arrange her workstation.

Roxy helped her as well. "You mean black magic?"

"No, just it was going to make him commit suicide. He was in a trance. He had a curse mark that was making him do everything. I poured fairy dust on him to break the spell but the spell was already breaking when I caught him…. You saw me get hit by lightning in that vision, right?"

Roxy nodded. "What does it mean?"

"I don't know, but I have ideas. Don't tell anyone yet. I can't say anything because I don't know enough. I'll need to look up some things. If we tell the others now, it'll just cause a commotion. I think that you value your privacy above everything else, don't you?"

"I…yeah." Roxy marvelled at her insight. "How d'you know?"

"I can tell the difference between a solitary animal and a social animal. I grew up in a forest and learnt everything about the creatures in it. You didn't want to talk to me earlier because I made you nervous. Me being a fairy makes you nervous."

Roxy was pensive as she threw towels into a laundry basket. Flora's analysis was correct but she was more worried about her idea of keeping quiet about what had happened.

"But you know," Flora said, "it just takes getting used to. Being a fairy isn't bad."

Not long after, Flora brought Roxy home with a brief stop at the groceries to buy food. Roxy had definitely opened up, even for a minute amount, to Flora over the course of the day. Roxy was more than curious about Flora as a person and she wanted to know more. She was not like other down-to-earth girls; she was rawer than them. She could see a lonely wildness in the dark-skinned girl. She was sort of happy to have met someone like Flora.

* * *

><p><strong>Latter Note:<strong> I've decided to take a completely different route with this story. I didn't like the way I had just jumped to the scene at the pier in the original so I thought I would start like this and dive into a plot. Exams are coming so updates are going to be every other week.

**Translation:** (German to English)

_"Ist das Prusten?"_ = "Is that Prusten?"

_"Ich weiss nicht. Roxy, komm her."_ = "I don't know. Roxy, come here."

_Nein_ = No


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Friday, December-16-11

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club or profit from writing this fanfic.

* * *

><p>After Klaus had moved to Gardenia for his shipping company, he had secured a job in which he could permanently live in Gardenia so that it would be easier for him to raise Roxy. He felt that this was good for her. She completed her high school education in one school and had the chance to experience the sedentary life but she seemed a little saddened by the fact that they would not embark on a fantastic journey to another country anytime soon.<p>

Roxy found herself atop a horse again gently trotting in a green forest devoid of sunlight. She came to a clearing and dismounted in the shadow of a tree. The horse disappeared with a snicker. The clearing was lit with white light piercing through the canopy. She did not enter the clearing but stood in the trees watching as if it was a thrust stage and the blades of sunlight were the spotlights.

Beside her stood a woman, but she was not surprised at this discovery. She seemed familiar. She had long hair and dusty clothing. Again, she had fairy wings.

"Do you see those men, Roxy?" The woman pointed to the clearing.

There were four men clad in leather. They seemed familiar as well. One stood out from the others with his fiery cadmium red hair.

"Yes," Roxy said.

"They must be stopped before they destroy the Earth."

"Why…?"

"They are looking for immortality by stealing all magic on Earth."

Roxy kept silent and listened. She did not understand but it all made sense in her sleeping mind.

"They are dangerous. You must stop them once and for all."

"Me?" she said in surprise.

"Yes," the woman said succinctly.

"But why me?"

She could sense the feeling of irony exude from the woman. Roxy did not understand why she found her question ironic. She was truly worried. The dream stopped and the mysterious woman disappeared. Her voice however was still present.

"You're going to need to be very strong today, Roxy. Can you do that?"

"Uh, yeah," she said confidently.

OOOO

In Roxy's defence, her introduction to the magical world of fairies, specialists and wizards was an absolutely horrifying one. At first, she had thought that she had been being the target of bullying by an exclusive clique of mean girls when they told her that she was a fairy. Then the lunatics kept coming in the form of four evil leather-clad wizards. She had never been so worried for her life before. In the chaos of all the magic, the specialists had appeared and the fact that they had exhibited no magical traits at all was a comfort to her. She had even mistaken them for normal people.

How they convinced her father to hire them, she had no idea and preferred not to know but she found their presence at bar to be a constant reminder of the things that she was not telling her father—which incited an immense guilt on her part. They never really bothered her about her "identity crisis," which she was grateful for, but half-heartedly wished that they would be more upfront about certain things, like how they found her, why they cared about her, what were they going to do with her and all those important details that involved her.

The Frutti Music Bar was bustling with business as usual. There was a line of people waiting to order at the counter and a dozen tables were occupied. She slipped behind the bar and started to work. Brandon was already there.

She already knew how to do most of the jobs at the bar, except for the accounting. Klaus did most of the business's bookkeeping in his office. (Slowly, he was teaching her.) The Frutti Music Bar was a converted warehouse that Klaus had bought years ago and the bar's business had only started to pick up in the last three. One of the bar's newest renovations was the construction of a small exterior bar with tables and hammocks to make it easier for beachgoers to get drinks and small snacks.

She would have felt very lucky to have ended up working with such a handsome man as Brandon had she not known that he came from outer space and that his girlfriend was a life-size _Barbie _doll as well as a fairy. She also could not help but notice that all the female customers that flirted with Brandon. Brandon patiently persisted through all the treatment and did his job. It was interesting to see how a handsome man dealt with the attention.

While he did not outright flirt with them, he did smile jovially back at them. He seemed to be doing it out of politeness, but Roxy would not deny that there was definitely something playful in everything the brunet did, intentional or not. As time passed, she could see that he was more than a little fatigued by the treatment.

"Just stop flirting with them, Brandon."

"I'm not!"

Roxy rolled her eyes and wiped some glasses. "Stop smiling at them. They'll leave you alone. You guys learnt pretty quickly how to work. It's weird."

The specialists' ability to quickly adapt to such a demanding environment was amazing. Roxy knew that waiting on tables was a difficult job by itself and working behind the counter took hours of training. She found their ability to quickly learn suspicious.

"So how are you dealing with everything?" Brandon asked. "Like about us and the magic?"

"I don't know how I feel about it. I feel like it's all just a dream but I know it's real. I sort of wish that this hadn't happened."

"Do you hate us because of it?"

"Well, no, but it's really strange. I never had any magic until you guys came along and I still don't. I can't do any spells or anything like that."

"Do you want to learn how to use magic?"

"Well…I'm scared to."

"Why?"

Roxy shrugged. "Because it's something new, I guess."

"Your dad told me that you two used to go travelling a lot because of his job. He said that you used to love exploring new places and that you would always go around looking for treasures to collect, like shells and postcards."

"He told you that?"

"I think it's a natural inclination for any father to brag about his daughter. I can tell that you like being alone, not necessarily because you're anti-social, but because you like to travel and explore. You don't seem to like routine. You never take the same route going to work or going home. You never go to the same place for lunch. You're very nomadic while everyone else is perfectly fine with having a routine and being sedentary. When you talk to tourists here, you often ask them about where they're from. It seems to me that you're craving for an adventure. Am I wrong?"

The rosy-haired girl kept silent. Her face was flush. She embarrassed to think that such a guy could read her so easily.

"Is it the fear of the unknown that is stopping you from learning magic? Are you scared that you'll hurt someone if you start to learn? Roxy, I don't think that I've ever met someone who has hurt themselves doing magic consciously. Think of magic as an adventure, because magic isn't just magic. It defines a person's personality. It's as natural wearing your own skin."

She looked at him apprehensively.

"And if something goes wrong, you have us and the Winx Club to make sure you're alright."

"Easier said than done, Brandon."

"I know. Bloom was much more willing to do magic than you are but she made a lot of mistakes and often did things without thinking. At least, you are cautious."

"Bloom is Sky's girlfriend, right?"

"She is Sky's…fiancée."

"They don't look like they're engaged, or act like it, to me. They look more like boyfriend and girlfriend."

"I know. I sometimes question their relationship. It's a fragile relationship with a lot of scratches already. Do you remember the night that we first fought the wizards and destroyed the parking?"

"I would like to think it was a bad dream," she said flippantly.

Brandon smirked. "Heh, all jokes aside, that wasn't a great night for any of us. The girls weren't expecting us to be here on Earth. We were supposed to be behind the scenes for a bit but there was a change of plans and we had to jump in that night. Anyways, they ripped on us and they're still not happy to find us here, Bloom especially."

"They don't like the fact that you're here to help them?"

"I think it has do with their pride as women being able to protect themselves."

"That seems sort of stupid," Roxy said.

He raised an eyebrow to her. There was something brotherly yet disbelieving in the gesture. It made her feel as if she was his unworldly little sister. Somehow, it made her happy to think that they had developed that sort of friendship.

"You say that now, Roxy, but wait until you're at the receiving end of it. Women are very finicky people." Brandon checked the clock. "It's time for our lunch break."

In truth, Roxy did understand the girls' predicament about needing to assert their independence from the specialists. Roxy could see hints of overprotectiveness in their personalities. It was subtle, but it was there, and considering their skills in combat, Roxy imagined that they had a low opinion of the fairies' physical capacities. It seemed like the typical protective boyfriend behaviour but heavily exaggerated.

They stepped into the kitchen and went into the backroom.

"I feel like eating Chinese again," Roxy said.

"What is that?"

"I can't start on trying to explain Chinese food again. If Dad asks, tell him that I'm at Ping's. I'll be back in a half an hour." Roxy made her way to the back door to leave.

"Sure." Brandon waved her good bye and stepped into the kitchen for food.

Roxy stepped out of the restaurant and started to head for the Chinese restaurant. She was more than a little troubled by Brandon's suggestion about magic.

Think of magic as an adventure. She was intrigued by the idea and probably would not have hesitated under different circumstances.

Everywhere she went, she was little more than hypersensitive to everything that happened to around her. There was something electric and alive in the air. It was as if a beast that had been dormant for years had awaken inside Roxy's soul. Everywhere she looked, her senses would pick up the most minute details; a particular shade of brown on a sparrow, the strut of a male cat looking for a mate, the smell of a stray dog.

It terrified her.

She turned a corner onto a familiar street. She was admittedly hunger and was trying to think of what she would eat before she went up to order.

All around her, she suddenly could guess everyone's mood by looking at not only their face but their posture and the way they held themselves. This could not possibly be something she had never noticed, she thought. It was not as if she had been blind to people all her life, but why could she see everything with more precision than before?

Roxy shook away the thoughts. She needed to concentrate on more tangible things such as eating.

She turned a corner and hit her nose hard into something.

"Ow!" She looked up to see that she had bumped into a tall man. "Sorry, I didn't see you," she mumbled. She saw that he looked lost and seemed slightly uncomfortable from being in an unfamiliar place.

The man mumbled his apologies as well. "I'm sorry, but could you give me directions?"

"Sure."

OOOO

Gardenia was graced with good weather. There was a cloudless sky and the city went through its usual routine. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Much had changed over the last few years. Old buildings had been torn down, new buildings were erected, stores changed and even people changed. After sixteen years of living in Gardenia, Bloom of Domino could barely recognise her beloved hometown. She did not remember the Frutti Music Bar being so popular or that it even existed before she left. It was strange, maybe even suspicious, but she did not care.

Somehow, she enjoyed the fact that she could observe such mundane facts. It made her feel normal. Some days, she wished that she was not quite the special fairy that she was for the was the Keeper of the Dragon Flame, the creating force of the universe around her. She did not mind being a fairy but she did not like to stand out from all the other fairies. She was simply happy enough to find out who her biological parents were.

Bloom knew that Sky's shift at the bar had finished a couple of minutes ago and she hoped to catch up to him to talk to him. She needed to understand what was going on. There were all sorts of questions whizzing in her mind but she was not sure which one she wanted to ask first. She felt betrayed. For the last few weeks, the Winx Club's boyfriends had been on Earth and they never knew. They were on a mission to watch them on Earth and basically clean up their mistakes, Faragonda had told her after Bloom had called her late one night. The red-haired girl could not help but feel betrayed. Surely, they would cause that much trouble to warrant a clean-up crew, would they? Or was the headmistress of Alfea simply letting the boys join them out of kindness? No, the specialists would have cane to them sooner if that was the case. Something more nefarious was going on.

Bloom arrived at the door of the Frutti Music Bar. She looked for a man with golden hair. No matter the circumstance, Sky would always stand out in a crowd, whether in Magix or on Earth. His royal upbringing would never let him blend in with the crowd. It was not because he wore a certain type of clothing, but because had a distinct presence that commanded attention all the time. She spotted him leaving for the beach and crossed the bar to reach him.

What she saw next should not have surprised her in the least but she hated to admit that her fiancé still attracted the attention of many woman despite being engaged. She saw a woman with glossy dark hair approach the man coquettishly.

Of course, it was only natural for Sky to act like a gentleman and pay attention to the girl. Bloom watched Sky chat with her for a few short moments before leaving to stroll on the beach. And of course, the girl would not leave him alone. Bloom sighed.

Just then, she felt someone poke her back and she turned to see Brandon smiling. "How are you?"

"I'm okay." She turned back to see Sky further down the beach and still hassled by the girl. "I have to talk with Sky," she said hotly. One could see the jealous fire in her eyes.

Brandon saw the direction of her gaze. "I don't think he needs help rejecting a girl, Bloom. He did it perfectly well before you came along. He'll come right back to you."

Bloom momentarily froze, before turning to back to the brunet. It was not often that she heard Brandon divulge anything about Sky's past or even his own. "Why is he always so…so popular?" she mumbled lowly. Nothing could hide the frustration in her voice. She hated when women started taking a liking to Sky. She knew that in some way that Sky's handsomeness was more than just exceptional on Earth and in Magix.

"Power is attractive."

"But no one here on Earth knows that he's royalty except for my parents."

"Power is attractive."

"You're not making sense."

The brunet grinned and invited her sit beside him at a table. She sat beside him, facing the ocean. "Before you even knew that Sky was even a fake squire, you thought he was attractive the moment you saw him, didn't you?"

"Uh, well…I don't really remember." Of course, she was lying because she did not want to bring embarrassing memories about how she had disgraced herself in front of crowds of people after she had fought Diaspro, Sky's previous fiancée.

"I don't think that you forgot the night that you met Sky, Bloom. Admit it, you did think he was attractive. I bet you even thought that about me too before you realised that I was way out of your league that night we met."

"Brandon!" Bloom's face was slightly red.

"And you aren't the first, I assure you." There was a calm certainty, maybe a sort of overconfidence, that Bloom did not like. There was a smile on his face that she wanted to burn. "Don't be embarrassed. Sky and I are different from the usual stock of royalty because we are warriors first, not just landed gentry and princes. I've noticed that women tend to idealise us into the perfect hero and protector. They think that we are strong as stone and braver than dragons because we are fighting a war. They think that loyalty will transfer to them as love and fidelity. They're always looking for a prince or a knight who will make them happy."

Bloom kept silent. She was entranced by his words. There was something deprecating in them. She kicked at the sand at her feet nervously. "I don't love him because of that," she said. She wanted to make that clear to the man. She saw Sky off in the distance. He was walking in the cool wet sand with his shoes in his hands. He was getting ever farther away from the bar.

"I hope you don't," Brandon said.

Bloom watched the waves ebb and flow on the sandy shores. She was slightly nervous to stand beside the brunet man. There was something about his ambivalent plastic playboy personality and the solemnity of his position as Sky's bodyguard that she did not like. Every now and then, she would hear rumours that she did not like—and not always of the sexual kind either. Had he been a man from Earth, she would have avoided him like the plague. Her instincts told her to stay away from him but she could not. It would be rude of her. He was her fiancé's bodyguard and good friend.

Brandon continued to speak. "I hope you don't love Sky because of some misconception of reality because you have to remember that once you marry him, you will share his burdens of running the kingdom. There is no going back."

"What do you think about me and Sky being together?"

Brandon kept silent. He seemed to ignore the question. She was afraid that she might have to repeat the question because he might not have heard. His silence grew unbearably long and Bloom became tense. She was afraid to know his answer.

"I have my doubts. I believe that if Sky were an ordinary man, you would have no trouble being a good wife to him. That is unfortunately not the case. Sky is no ordinary man."

"You don't believe in me."

"It would have been more bearable if you had been an ordinary woman that he took on as his mistress than his wife." His voice was not contemptuous. The blatancy in which he spoke about such a taboo but serious subject surprised her. She hid her shock and wished that he would stop talking. She was not comfortable talking about such a licentious subject.

She hated this Ken doll persona he frequently wore. She hated how outgoing and popular (and cocksure) he was. Why couldn't be straightforward and easy to read? Couldn't he be a little more humble? Everything about his person made her feel unworthy of being Sky's girlfriend sometimes. She would never have been acquaintances with a person like Brandon before. Back in high school, she had not been the type to hang out with the popular kids. She had always been with the kooky and socially awkward kids. Now, she was part of the in-crowd. How awkward and ironic.

Despite all of this, she could feel that she was speaking with a more serious and even more dangerous Brandon. This was as close as she got to a political conversation with the esquire and she felt like she was treading deep black waters. He was censuring himself. She was convinced that he hid much of what he thought in regards to Sky because of his position yet he also seemed like the best person to get an honest opinion.

"Brandon…is there something that you would like to say that you can't say to Sky?"

"Like?"

"What you think about us together?"

"Bloom, Sky knows already that I don't him to marry you."

Bloom's heart missed a beat. Her lips could not form words. She never thought he would say something like this.

"Why didn't you say this before?"

"Bloom, don't misunderstand. This has nothing to do with your character or not being good enough for him. I just don't think you're fit to be the queen."

"…why not?"

Brandon shrugged. "Because I don't think you're strong enough."

"What? Brandon, I am one of the most powerful fairies in the universe. Sure, I have a lot to learn but…."

"That's not it. Sky walks the fine line of between being good and evil. You and I both know that you can never be both and get away from it. He has the ability to become evil like Icy. For all he does, you have to remember that he is a king at war and you know what happens in war. It's real dirty and traumatising. My hope is that your smile and your light will keep him from doing the wrong thing should Queen Samara, I or anyone close to him die. We don't want him to become a vengeful king. That is the fastest path to self-destruction. You need to be strong enough to stand beside him as well as be the immovable rock that stops him…but I don't know if you are capable of that and it worries me."

Bloom swallowed hard. She was awed by the depth of his sincerity yet frightened at what he expected of her. "Brandon, I never knew that you cared this much. I thought you didn't care at all, but I wish…."

Just then Brandon's phone began to ring. It was some cutesy tune that Stella had put on his phone. There was such a disconnect between the gaiety of the tune and the gravity of Brandon's words that it left Bloom confused. There was a no-nonsense in Brandon's gesture of answering the phone that she could not help notice.

"Roxy went to a place called 'Ping's' for lunch, Sky," the esquire said.

Bloom's ears perked at the sound of her fiancé's name as well as Roxy's. The restaurant name was familiar too. She looked for Sky down the beach but he was just a speck in her vision. She did not see Roxy around either. Then she turned and saw Brandon's grave but expectant face as he listened to Sky's message. She was surprised to see that she was not looking at the same Brandon that she had meet several years ago. Time had flown by quickly and now she was sitting beside a man who took everything seriously.

He silently handed her his phone much to her surprise. Sky's voice was slightly tense and hurried. "Bloom, take Brandon with you to that restaurant Ping's and find Roxy. Someone might be after her right now. I'll meet you on the way. Run!"

"Wait, what's going on?"

"I just got news that something is going to happen to Roxy in a few minutes. I have no idea what though."

"Are you sure? How do you know?"

"Bloom, I can't argue this right now!" he said firmly. "Find her and make sure she is safe. Take Brandon with you. I'll be right behind you."

She was surprised by his sonorous hard voice. There was an authoritative tone to it. "But…" she mumbled. Hesitantly, she turned to Brandon who was gesturing for her to lead the way.

Bloom shook her head and wondered why was she hesitating. She was getting complacent with her normal-seeming life. They jumped into action. Without knowing it, she was excited to have something to do. She could hear the blood rush in her ears with exhilaration.

They headed for the street and ran. Luckily, Bloom knew to run straight for the plateau rather than navigate all the streets. Ping's was located just at the base of the plateau.

Bloom was certainly not the most athletic person. Over the years, sheer necessity required her to be in good physical condition but she was no match for Brandon's peak athleticism. They ran the length of the beach until they turned onto a boulevard. She started to tire but Brandon continued on like a machine after she yelled to him the precise directions.

She ducked into an alley and transformed. She felt the sizzling fire in her heart engulf her body. She was surrounded by a cocoon of white crackling fire and dispersed the flames with her wings. Revitalised, she took to the air and caught up with Brandon.

She saw people stare at her in awe but she was not concerned. She saw Roxy's familiar unique shade of pink hair. She was talking to a large man with blond hair as if giving him directions. It was not Sky but a stranger that seemed out of place in Gardenia. No doubt, he was not from Earth. There was always a distinct characteristics that made people from the magical universe seem displaced on Earth. Without warning, Roxy collapsed into the man's arms.

Bloom saw a blue boomerang whizz past her and head straight for the man with blond hair. It hit him in the back with startling precision. She looked below to her left to see Sky running. He had thrown the shimmering weapon.

Weapons from the magic dimension were of a technology beyond Earth's. She did not quite understand the science but she knew that their forms were created using charged crystals and a form of magic to control the shape and solid form. They were not like lightsabers for they could not cut through any material. They often had a pommel of sorts to hold the shaping mechanism and the crystal. Bloom could only describe the material that constituted of the blade as a liquid glass-like substance with the strength of the strongest metal. They were called "phantoblades" for their blade's translucent quality.

The fairy and the two specialists closed the distance between them and Roxy and her attacker.

Brandon pulled out his javelin and raised it about his head. He threw the green spear with all his might. It whistled through the air. The attacker fortunately saw it and dodged it just in time to miss his head. It cut him in the shoulder and blood started to stain his shirt. Civilians parted at the sight of Brandon, wondering if carried other hidden weapons.

Sky, who was much faster than the esquire, ran passed Brandon and made the first hit on the attacker with his fist to the attacker's chest. With the wind knocked out of Roxy's assailant, Sky took the opportunity to grab the Earth fairy and run to safety.

Bloom saw the opening and threw a pyre of flames at the man. The man was thrown back onto the street. Bloom prepared to throw another volley of fire when she felt her wings weaken and her magic dissipate rapidly. Without warning, her transformation disappeared and she found herself experience the horrific feeling of freefall. She screamed. She fell into the overhanging awnings of a grocery store. For a moment, she thought she was safe before the entire structure collapsed and fell unto the fruits stand below. Her fall was broken by fruits and vegetables.

Citizens got the hint that they should run and did. The street was cleared of people within a minute.

What had happened to her wings? Bloom cursed the pain and tried to get up. She crawled onto her hands and knees and onto the sidewalk. What had happened to her magic? She tried to summon sparks of fire in her hands but could not. Her magic had disappeared. Where was her magic?

The only thing that could possibly take her magic away like that was the Shaab Stone, a powerful stone that rendered magic useless, even fairy magic. Did the man have a piece on him? How did he even get one?

Brandon engaged the assailant in hand-to-hand combat. They traded blows but they were evenly matched in speed and technique.

Sky did his best to wake up Roxy. She groaned and her eyes opened wide but noticed the smallest slowness in her actions. He sat her up.

"Are you alright, Roxy?"

"Yeah. What's going on?" She turned to see Brandon and the assailant fight and she gasped. "You jerk! Leave him alone!" Roxy stood up on unsteady legs and slammed herself into Brandon's side.

Brandon was thrown off-balance. Luckily, he stopped himself from hitting her with the backside of his arm. He saw Roxy stand with her back to the assailant. She berated Brandon. "How could you? I thought you people were supposed to help."

"Roxy, he's trying to kidnap you," Brandon reasoned.

"No, he isn't! He's Dad!"

"You're Dad's at the bar, Roxy."

Sky had a sinking feeling. He stood up and approached as close as he dared to Roxy and the attacker. "Roxy, you say that that is your father?"

"Can't you tell?"

"Do me one thing." Sky pulled a necklace off his neck. "Do you see this?"

"Yeah, dog tags."

"No, these are dictionaries."

"They are?"

"Yeah, can't you tell?"

"That's enough, Roxy," the assailant said. He whispered something into her ear and she fell asleep again. He tossed her over his uninjured shoulder. He dropped several smoke pellets causing the street to be filled with harmless black smoke instantly.

Blinded by smoke, Bloom panicked. She felt arms wrapped themselves around her and she struggled unsure of who was grabbing her.

"It's Sky, Bloom. Let's get out of here."

"But what about Roxy?"

"Brandon's on it. Riven's coming to help him."

Carried bridal-style, Bloom held onto Sky. She ached from her fall. Sky darted through alleys and streets to get away from the mess. The further they went, the more she felt her magic return to her and the faster her injuries healed. Sky put her down when he thought that they were far enough.

"What had happened to your magic?" Sky asked.

"It disappeared. I think the man has a piece of the Shaab Stone."

Sky was massively displeased by this piece of news. "Then magic is useless in face of this man. Where could he have gotten a piece large enough to take your magic away? Forget about that. Are you alright? You took a nasty fall."

"My magic is coming back, so I'm okay. I can heal."

"Then let's get back to the loft. We need to find out who hired him."

The two returned to the specialist's apartment. En route, Sky had made quick phone calls asking the rest of the Winx Club and specialists to come. They were there in an instant. Sky was to the point when he informed them of what had happened in front of the Chinese restaurant. Years of practise helped Sky to present the information with as little confusion as possible.

"How did you found out that this was happening?" Aisha asked. As a princess, her parents had taught her to behave with a levelled head and how to ask for the right information.

"We have someone in Magix snooping around. The fairy hunters have been in Magix for years, but we've never noticed them until now. Some sniffing around revealed that there are people on Earth for illegitimate reasons and it's recent. Today was planned and we had just intercepted it when we went to go and rescue Roxy.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the kidnapper was sent by the Black Circle. What worries me most is the Shaab Stone piece they have. We do know that Roxy is going to be delivered tonight at midnight."

"Who is giving you this information?" the dark-skinned princess asked.

"Helia. I sent him away to deal with some business in Magix."

"He's in Magix spying for us?" Stella asked uneasily. "Again?" The sun princess was remembering the incident in which Helia double-crossed everyone to steal a large piece of the Shaab Stone from Belizarius, a disreputable dealer.

"Yes. I know it looks shady"—he said in response to some poignant dirty looks—"but I assure you that he will not double-cross us again like the last time. And this time, we know about it. Anyways, Timmy is working the signal of a beacon I placed on Roxy earlier and coordinating with Riven and Brandon."

Timmy stepped out with a laptop on his arm. "Sky, I have bad news. The kidnapper apparently found the beacon on Roxy and left it in a taxi. Riven bribed the guy for the details of where Roxy might be though. It's up north near the factories. I pulled up the city's cameras. They dropped off on the industrial boulevard but I don't know where they disappeared to though. There aren't any cameras where they went."

Bloom observed Sky. He did not seem truly angry as much as he was irritated by the inconvenience. He exhaled heavily. He turned to Nabu, the only real wizard within their group. Despite being a wizard, the dark-skinned man was physically capable as any specialist.

"We're closer. Nabu, Brandon and I are going there right now. I have an idea though. Timmy, watch the fort while we're gone and relay info."

"And us?" Bloom asked. She hated to think that Sky was going to undertake something by himself.

"What do you want to do?" Sky asked.

"We're coming obviously," Stella said.

"Even though there is a Shaab Stone and you might not be able to use magic?"

"Sky, we can handle ourselves," Bloom argued.

Sky looked dubiously at her and the rest of the fairies. There was nothing condescending about it, but she could tell that he somewhat doubted them because they were women. Bloom watched a thousand thoughts flit across his abnormally bright blue eyes. Now that she was back on Earth, she noticed how unnaturally intense their colour was against the muted backdrops of Earth. Sky made a calculated risk and changed his plan so that it included the six fairies.

Timmy remained in the loft while everyone left for the factories to the north of the city. Bloom wore a communicator earpiece to stay in touch with everyone else and she could hear everyone. She followed Sky through her beloved Gardenia but he did not seem to be going north. They headed for the factories but Sky had told them to go on ahead.

"We're taking a detour, Bloom," Sky said as they turned down a street.

"Isn't this…?"

"Roxy's house? Yes. Stay here. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

The sun was making its descent to the western horizon. Sky crossed the street and hopped over the fence. He looked through the windows. Bloom could hear the faint barking of a dog. Sky tested the front door and made short work of the lock. Bloom almost ran to Sky when Artú leaped up and tried to attack him. Somehow, Sky grabbed Artú by the collar and managed to calm the canine down to a reasonable level. She could not tell from across the street but it seemed that he knew how to intimidate the animal into submission. She saw something in Sky change as he took charge of the canine by acting bigger and much more threatening than Artú. The blond seemed taller and much more imposing than before.

Sky crossed the street with Artú after relocking the house. "Let's go. Artú is going to make finding Roxy easier," Sky said.

Bloom nodded.

"Sky, what had happened to Roxy? What was that dictionary thing?"

"She was weak to the power of suggestion. It means that she's hypnotised."

"How do you know this?"

"Because I need to. Let's go."

She press any further for answers. He was not willing to give her any more information and she saw this. Bloom saw that Artú seemed to feel confused and maybe even depressed but she could see a sort of dog-like determination to find her. The fairy and specialist along with the canine then headed for the factories to the north to rescue Roxy.

* * *

><p><strong>Latter Note:<strong> I added translations to the German dialogue in the previous chapter.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Friday, June 17, 2011

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Winx Club.

* * *

><p>The topic of fairies was not even remotely close to being a subject of interest to Roxy before she had met the Winx Club. The only fairies she tolerated were the ones in fairy tales.<p>

Now, she apparently knew six real life fairies with glittering wings. Whether they benevolent or not, she still did not know. In addition, as if a fairy tale could not get worst, wizards existed, not of the J. K Rowling variety but of a nightmarish quality. There was not one, but four; four very evil and very dangerous wizards and they were after her.

Worst of all, they all claimed that she was a fairy too. And this had all happened in one day too. She had definitely gotten the short end of the stick today.

To recapitulate, Roxy had woken up that morning like any normal day and fed her many pets. She had quite a few fairy pets from this store called Love & Pet. At first, she had been thoroughly disinterested in their store until one day she signed up to their site to investigate their business. There seemed to be a shady quality to their business. She thought they were selling high-end animatronic dolls but the first time she had signed up and chosen her pet, something inexplicable happened.

Her computer screen had turned completely white and there was a rush of wind or energy and suddenly, her newly adopted pet appeared in front of her face. Not long after, she had realised that despite whatever had happened for the fairy pet to arrive in front of instantaneously, the fairy pet was alive, not a doll. It was a breathing creature that thirsted and hungered and she had to take care of it.

In quick succession, she had repeated the process of signing up with fake email addresses to figure out what was going on and soon enough, she had half a dozen fairy pets. Then one day, the people who sold the fairy pets appeared looking for her at her father's bar harassing her for answers about why she has so many pets. Then through a string of coincidences, they had figured out that she was a fairy.

It was then that Roxy had ran from them to only meet up with the men who wanted her dead for her powers at the pier.

Roxy was still not quite sure what had happened, but she knew her life had irrevocably changed. There had been a fight and many flashes of magic as well as an accidental fall into the sewers.

Now, she followed the same six fairies and their boyfriends trudge into the Love & Pet shop fatigued but looking at her intently. They all made their way up to the loft above the shop and gathered in the living room. They offered her a seat on a chaise.

There were twelve of them and each of them made her worry for various reasons. Mostly, they all seemed too suspicious after what she had seen: first, she had seen them fight the wizards and then she saw the fairies hang out at the bar while the boys applied for a job. On the bright side, her father had quietly rejoiced to hear that they were her friends.

Roxy fidgeted in her seat. Artú settled anxiously around her feet. He was tense and attentive. He was wary of the strangers around Roxy. Flora placed a cup of tea in front of her on the coffee table. They did not seem quite ready to settle down and start talking to her yet. She watched them flit around the kitchen. Flora retrieved a robust first aid kit and put it on the dining table. It was about the size of a suit case. Helia opened it. He examined the kit for tools. He was calm and seemed undisturbed by everyone walking around him. Flora placed a clean plate beside his elbow to put the used tools in it.

She averted her eyes when saw Riven shrug off his shirt. He sat at the kitchen table with his back to Helia. She realised that he had a bandage that wrapped around his middle and it was red. Still, she was surprised to see how built Riven was. He had scars and bruises in various stages of healing. She averted her eyes again when she saw Helia cut the bandages off with surgical scissors. She did not look back.

Slowly, the girls settled on the couch across from Roxy. Nabu, Sky, Brandon and Timmy stood about the living room. Unexpectedly, a blue gray floppy-eared rabbit leaped up onto the coffee table but no one minded the creature. Artu perked up and bared his teeth. The rabbit froze and leaped into Bloom's lap in fear. Roxy kept a firm hand on Artú's collar.

"Uh, this is my rabbit Kiko. He's not a fairy pet. He's just a normal rabbit," Bloom said. She eyed the canine in fear for her pet.

"Artú won't bite him."

"I guess that we should start from the beginning," Sky said.

"So, I'm a fairy," Roxy said.

"Yes," Bloom replied.

Roxy had many questions but she did not know where to start. "How did it happen? How did I become a fairy?"

"You were born a fairy."

"And…how did you find out about me?"

"It's a long story…but we should tell you." Bloom took a deep breathe. She introduced everyone in succession. "Technically, us six are supposed to be student teachers at Alfea. Alfea is a college for fairies and it's the school we all studied at. The guys, they studied at Red Fountain…a sort of military school. Except for Nabu. Nabu is a wizard, not a specialist." The red-haired girl pointed at the dark-skinned man standing at the balcony door.

He then realised that he was being stared at. "Hi," he said to the girl.

Roxy wanted to say he was black, but he was not. She could not place what his ethnicity was. He was not African nor Middle Eastern nor Southeast Asian nor was not a mix of any. It seemed that he was of a completely unknown race. All she could say for sure was that he had dark tanned skin. Then she looked at everyone else and realised that this was the same for everyone. They had physical qualities that made them seem human for only a moment.

"Those four men are the Black Circle. They came to Alfea looking for me," Bloom continued, "because I they had heard that I had grown up on Earth. They thought I was an Earth fairy, but then they realised that I wasn't really an Earth fairy. I'm a Domino fairy."

"So wait, where are there other fairies on Earth?" Roxy asked. "Why haven't I seen them before? Why haven't they found me?"

Bloom looked at the girls with an anxious face.

"There aren't any," Bloom said.

"What do you mean?" Roxy raised an eyebrow. She did not like the tension pervading in the air. It was as if they were reticent on sharing their information.

"According to the Tree of Life, you're the last one…."

"…what?" Roxy asked. "What's the Tree of Life?"

"The Tree of Life keeps track of all the magic in the universe, good and bad, and according to it, you're the last fairy of Earth," Flora said quietly. She picked at the hem of her skirt nervously.

The room was eerily quiet. One could hear a pin drop.

Roxy was confused by their silence. What reason did they have to be quiet? Before they had been adamant on telling her the truth about what she was. "How am I the last fairy on Earth?"

"The wizards trapped them all in the Black Circle, the spell that steals fairy magic."

"Why? I don't un—"

"All the Earth fairies are gone, Roxy," Nabu said crisply. He crossed his arms and leaned on the wall. He seemed guilty to share that information.

"Nabu!" Aisha chided. He was not embarrassed. He seemed to be unaffected or unconscious of the delicate conversation.

"You mean…'dead?'"

No one answered but Roxy could see into their faces the answer. They would have told her otherwise if she had been wrong.

"And what about you guys…?"

"We're not Earth fairies. We're all fairies from different planets," Bloom said modestly.

Roxy kept still. She felt a myriad of emotions that tightened around her heart. She could only focus on the truth unfurling in her mind: the revelation that she was the last fairy on Earth. It was a scary one and one that she was not quite prepared to handle. Artú sensed the stress in her. He looked at her with worried eyes.

The girl curled her fists tightly and tried to blink out the salinity gathering at her eyes.

OOOO

Roxy experienced the oddest sensation of waking up with her eyes open. She found herself to be sleeping on a heaping of sandbags, which was not the most comfortable of type of material for a bed but better than the floor. She took in her surroundings. She was in a one-window room with chipping paint and an old wooden floor. She guessed that the room might have been office or a closet judging by the rusting file cabinets. The windows were barred and she could only see the side of a hill giving her no indication as to where she could be. Her "bed" was in the farthest corner from the door.

Roxy sat up and tried to think. She remembered going to work, talking with Brandon about some odd things and then leaving for lunch because she had a craving for Chinese food. She could barely remember walking down the boulevard that led to Ping's.

She could not remember what had happened after that.

She was still hungry.

"Are you awake?"

Roxy jumped. She turned to see a man looking down on her. He was larger than Brandon but had short wheat blond hair and dull blue eyes. However, there was something in his presence that made him more than just a human. She was not quite sure was it was but the way he observed her with a cold scientific curiosity frightened her.

"Um, who are you?" she said timidly. She truly had no idea what was going on.

Ignoring her question, he dropped a plastic bag near her.

"Eat," he said and left the room abruptly. She heard the distinct click of a lock. That sound was like getting slapped in the face.

She had a distinct idea of what was happening and she started to cry. She trembled in fear.

"Why me?"

She knew that without a doubt that whatever had happened to her involved the fairies, specialists and wizards. She racked her mind for answers but could not find any. She remembered the first time she had been trapped into the horrible spell of the Black Circle. She remembered the deafening swirling purple thunder of the vortex and the body-wrenching pain. She remembered screaming and crying. She also recalled the joy of feeling Artú's wet nose after falling to the ground and realising that she was alive. The first time the wizards had trapped her in their spell had been a failed attempt. The fairies and specialists had disrupted the ritual long enough for her to get away.

She wondered if the wizards would succeed this time. What would happen after the spell they called the Black Circle completed its purpose and took her powers away? Would that not be preferable? Roxy never wanted to be a fairy in the first place and her life would be back to its perfect simplicity if she had no fairy powers to speak of.

No, she was not quite sure. She did not want her powers but she was more than curious about these new people she had met. Their inhuman qualities made Roxy want to learn everything about them and their world beyond what she knew. She wanted to know what had made her so special enough that she had become a fairy. It was a horrible sort of curiosity made her wonder if she was depraved.

She also knew that the wizards would not just simply take her powers and let her live the rest of her life in peace. That sort of kindness did not seem suited to their personalities. They destroyed the parking near the bar without so much as remorse when they fought with the Winx Club and specialists. Throwing cars at the specialists was proof of that.

They would no doubt get rid of her permanently as soon as they were finished with her. She had seen enough movies to know this.

She was not going to let that happen. She was not going to resign herself to death so easily. She was flooded with questions that she never knew she had until now and she wanted answers. She wiped her tears away. She needed to be strong if she was going to see the day through alive.

Several minutes later, she dared to see the bag the man had dropped. It contained her original order from Ping's: chopsticks, food, receipt and all.

Roxy ate with gusto. She could not help it.

Mid-chew, she realised that her food might have been drugged or poisoned but after carefully examining her food, she deemed (more like she took the risk of thinking) that it was safe to eat. Her stomach would not stop bothering her. She supposed that for a last meal, eating something as exotic as Chinese was not so bad.

Why her captor had even bothered to bring her food perplexed her?

Her watch told her that about two hours had passed since she had left for her lunch break. She wondered if Brandon had noticed that she had not showed up for her afternoon shift.

She wondered if they were even looking for her. Surely, they would have noticed. She knew that the specialists were smarter than that. She knew that they paid an enormous amount of attention to her. They seemed like the kind of people who would jump into action as soon as something appeared out of place.

Roxy finished her food and tried to open the door despite knowing that it was locked. The doorknob looked decrepit enough that she could destroy it with something.

She twisted the knob.

Locked, obviously.

She tested it for its fragility. Despite the fact that it had lost its polish and very scratched, it was strong as any good doorknob. She had no idea how she could break it.

She took a step back and circled her prison. There was no way she could break the sheetrock walls surrounding her or the wooden floor below her. She had sandbags and some rusty cabinets to her disposal. She looked up.

The ceiling was a drop ceiling, like the ones seen in offices and schools. They were slightly stained brown from some sort of water damage. There was also an air duct but she was under no illusion that air ducts were viable escape routes. While they worked in movies, she had seen enough construction workers contracted by Klaus around the bar to know that they were not practical solutions.

She examined a filing cabinet as an idea came to here. The cabinets reached up to her shoulders. There was no way that she could jump onto it by herself. She looked at the sandbags and piled them like bricks to raise her higher over the cabinets. She was still not high enough so she opened the bottom drawer to fill it with a sandbag and act as a counterweight. She opened the second one from the bottom to turn it into a step.

Finally, she pulled herself up onto the top. Trying to stay steady, she stood up and pushed a ceiling board out of her way. She was engulfed in darkness. It also smelled noxious. She reached over the wall of her prison for another ceiling board and removed it. She saw another room. She looked for enemies (which she found to be a weird term to use in her head). She saw none.

The room had openings in the walls for what she supposed for observation windows. There were tables joined to the wall. Fortunately, there was one right beneath Roxy's opening in the ceiling and she would not have to risk breaking her neck trying to jump down. She lifted herself into the darkness to sit over the wall. The area in the drop ceiling was spacious, something she was not expecting at all. She carefully swung her lean legs over and slipped down onto the table in the other room praying that nothing bad would happen.

She let out a breath as she felt her foot touch the table and not crumble away. Slowly, she put her weight on it, then her second foot and finally, her whole self. The table was steady.

She rejoiced at having escaped. She slipped off the table and kept low. The room was long and rectangular. It was thick with dust. There were ancient computer desks lined up against the walls. She looked over to the windows.

Her heart pounded. She was on the second floor of a massive warehouse filled with crates of various sizes as well as freighter containers. It was an ocean of boxes and she could not see any immediate exits. She could see the fading sunset through the barred windows and holes in the roof made by animals.

She needed a weapon. She was defenceless and she sure as hell could not put up a fight against her captor like the specialists probably could.

She exited the room through a broken door onto a balcony with chipping paint and tried to make as little sound as possible but the rickety metallic sound her steps made on the balcony did not help. She descended down the stairs wary of her captor. She spotted an old welding station and a box of scraps. She had no idea what went on in this warehouse. It stunk of gasoline and mould.

She quietly rummaged through the scrap box for a hollow bar of steel. She swung it experimentally like a baseball bat. It would have to do.

There were rows upon rows of cargo crates neatly arranged and she had no idea which way to run. She was at one corner of the warehouse and she could very well get lost just trying to cross it. Logic told her to keep moving before her captor would realise what had happened. She went down to the aisle closest to the wall and started to walk quickly.

She knew that all these cargo crates had probably arrived from ships or trains. She recognised them from when she was little and traveling with her father on freights. She wondered if she was still in Gardenia.

Quietly, she tried to follow the wall. In theory, there had to be an emergency exit somewhere in the building.

She turned left, right, right, right, left, left, right, left…. She hoped that she was doing the right thing. She turned right and stopped suddenly. She almost screamed but prided herself on her self-control. Her blond captor stood there with her back to him. She retreated quickly around a corner of a crate and held the bar of steel tightly. Her palms became sweaty. He was facing a set of metal double-doors with a red exit (an exit!) sign over it.

What could she do? She could try to walk in another direction or she could wait there and try to ambush him. She had a better chance of surviving if she tried to find another route but she could not just play a cat and mouse game forever. Her captor was there and she could try to beat the shit out of him but her chances of her hurting him were as good as her being able to cast a spell with what little magic she could muster.

He had been mysteriously huddled over something on the ground.

She held her breathe. She could hear him whistle a joyful tune. She could not recognise it but she could tell that it was getting louder. He was coming closer to her!

Now was the moment to make a choice: fight or flight? Would she brave her chances and stand her ground or would she run away in an attempt to conserve her life? She hoped that her instincts would lead her to do the right thing.

Terrified, she made her decision: she ran.

She slipped down a corner and ran in earnest. She could not keep track of the turns she made but she was better off lost than captured. Her breathing deafened her senses. Her lungs burned.

She froze after turning a corner. She came face-to-face with her blond captor. He was not surprised in the least. She held her rod tightly and swung as hard as she possibly could.

The large man caught the rod of steel with his two hands expectantly. Roxy felt like she had hit a wall. The force of her swing reverberated down her arms. She saw the man's blue eyes observe her clinically. They were cold and unfeeling.

"Stop this now. I can easily take you down," he warned. His voice was low and rough. He wrenched the bar out of her grasp, bent it in half like a cartoon character and dropped it on the ground with a loud metallic twang on the concrete. Her weapon was suddenly useless.

Roxy stared with wide eyes. She could hear her heart pound with exhilaration but she was not experiencing an uncontrollable flurry of emotions. She felt calm.

"Turn around and start walking back. Running is obviously useless. I could toss you over my shoulder or you can come on your own two feet. All the exits are rigged with traps so escaping is impossible," he said.

Roxy looked at the bent bar of metal. She was afraid that he would bend her bones like the scrap piece of metal.

The blond man gestured for her to start walking. She turned and obeyed.

Stupidly, she ran again. This time, she was unhindered from holding a weapon. She ran faster than before and whizzed down corners. She made random turns and hoped that she would not encounter him again.

Without warning, her jaw smashed against the concrete floor. She ate dust as a torrential force hit her from behind. She struggled to get up. She felt a heavy body on her back. Both of her wrists were pulled together behind her. She felt the coldness of metal cuffs on her wrist.

She felt him pull her up by her shirt collar and waistband. The large man pulled her up roughly to her feet. She felt like a captured animal.

"Do that again and I will hurt you." he said dangerously. She could hear a shade of regret in his voice. Perhaps he regretted his choice of letting her walk on her own. There was a coldness in his voice that terrified her. He looked like he could follow through on his promise. "Now move."

Within minutes, he brought her back to where she had started. He pushed her in another direction rather than the stairs to the office on the second floor where she had woken up. He brought her to the red caged area of a defunct generator. He unlocked the cage door and pointed for her to go in.

He pushed her in, uncuffing her at the same time. Everything was covered in dust but she sat on the box of a cooling fan.

Well, that had been a pathetic attempt at an escape, Roxy thought to herself. She wished she could brush her hair out of her face. She watched her captor pull up a chair and sit outside her cage. He was not particularly mean or unkind to her which was the opposite of what she was expecting. She almost wanted him to be brutal to her so that he could justify her need to get angry and fight back.

"Why are you doing this?" she said to break the tense silence. She could almost go insane because of the monotony.

He looked at her. "Are you talking to me?"

"Who else could I possibly be talking to?" she said sarcastically. "Was it the Black Circle who told you to do this?"

She watched him contemplate speaking to her. She could see an unearthly intelligence in his boring blue eyes. The man was monstrously big, larger than a quarterback, and the way he held himself bespoke of something animal-like. He was like a monster waiting to burst from his jeans and t-shirt.

"You're one of them, aren't you? You're one of those people not from here, aren't you? What are you?"

"I am a specialist." The man watched her intently. He seemed mildly amused. "How could you tell?"

She looked at him, but not in the eyes. She was afraid to make eye-contact. She was afraid to provoke the beast. "You bent that metal. Humans can't do that."

"Ahh."

"I thought that specialists are supposed to be good people." At least, she had gotten the impression that they were good from the scraps of conversations she had had with them. It seemed that their alma mater Red Fountain was a morally upstanding school. Other than that, she had no idea how else to describe them. Soldier did not seem to be the right word.

"That's…naïve of you." Her captor seemed to be particular about his choice of words. Whether he was doing out of sheer kindness or had developed some type of fear of her, Roxy could not tell. "A specialist is not always a good person. He does whatever he is paid to do. We don't make judgements on what clients want us to do."

Roxy watched his face for the slightest changes. She was surprised at his civilised tone despite looking like a brute. He seemed heartless, but not cruel. He obviously exhibited emotion, but with much restraint.

"Then you're just a mercenary," she said.

"When it boils down to it, yes, all specialists are just skilled mercenaries."

A chill rode up the girl's spine. There was a surety in his voice when he had said that statement that scared her. "All of them…?"

"You don't seem to know. Specialists are only elite mercenaries. We are only more valuable than the average soldier because of our specialisation or enhancements. Like me, the people who are trying to protect you are probably being paid somehow."

Roxy became silent. She stared at her laced up boots. She was perturbed by the information. She never imagined that she would be involved with mercenaries and fairies. It was all very surreal and this frightened her. "But why? Why would they do it?"

She knew that she was the last fairy of Earth, or so they told her, but she could not see their motivation to try and protect her. She was one person but she could not see how she fit in the scheme of things.

"You are asking the wrong man," her captor said.

Roxy breathed heavily. She sucked in a breath and let out a howl of anger. It was a mix of a sigh and a cry of frustration. It helped her to vent her frustration and stress. Her jailer jumped in surprised at the sound.

Logically, she was angry, scared and confused about who those specialists Klaus had hired as waiters. She was filled with doubt. Who would pay them to come to Earth and try to protect her? If any of what she had seen on television resembled an iota of real life, the possibility of them faking everything including emotion was all too real.

Then she realised that her jailer was staring at her strangely. The two of them looked at each other. His stare was a mix of awe and bewilderment, as if she were an animal he had never seen. When she looked at him, she realised that he was injured. There was a bandage of sorts peeking out from beneath his shirt.

"Judging by that," her captor continued, "you seem to know very little of what is going on."

"Only because no one tells me anything."

"That's to be expected," he said.

Roxy gritted her teeth. "I would give a lot to find out what people want with me right now."

"You truly don't know?"

"No…."

"How sad." The man crossed his arms.

Roxy grimaced and then sighed. She hated his curt responses. Such cruel answers were to be expected, she supposed. She could feel herself coming off the high of emotions from earlier. She was without a doubt trapped. She had promised herself that she would take control of her life. No more passive Roxy, she had hastily promised. She would not resign herself to a fate that she could not control. She needed to be strong for herself. She had tried by instigating her escape but destiny found it fitting to place her captor in her way.

She needed to be patient and by ready to seize any opportunity that presented itself to her. However, she could do nothing at the moment. She hoped that the others were trying to find her. For the moment, she could only place her hope on them because none of them had tried to hurt her yet.

OOOO

They were moving too slow or time was moving too fast for the specialists and fairies. Every minute that passed was a reminder that they just one more minute closer to losing Roxy.

Artú clawed at a heavy steel door to a decrepit-looking warehouse. The hound had led them to a particular building in the northern factories. They had no definitive proof but everyone could tell that the hound had smelt intently for Roxy. They sized up the building.

It was an indistinct building. Some windows were shattered. The doors were stained with rust. The white exterior painted had faded and become a dreary yellow. It was heavily covered in graffiti painted on by gangs but even those were starting to fade.

Everyone knew instinctively that it a trap.

Bloom could feel her powers fade slowly. Her wings had disappeared already minutes ago but she could no longer feel the magic in her soul. The flame inside of her had been choked out by the Shaab Stone's incredulous influence. No doubt they were close.

"We don't know how many people are in there," Tecna said.

Over the last few minutes, Timmy had been relaying information from Helia in Magix. In brief, the kidnapper was supposed to be working alone. The others had nothing to discredit Helia's already amazing achievement but there was always the possibility that the kidnapper had brought some "friends" to Earth who were not meant to be there.

They had regrouped earlier when they realised that Artú was dead-set on the one warehouse. They split into three teams to attempt a break in from three different directions. Bloom, Stella, Brandon and Sky stayed at the door that Artú prowled apprehensively. The canine looked up at the foursome for them to open it. Sky examined the door and made short work of it as the other three stood some distance away keeping watch. The door swung open on weak but loud hinges. It seemed that it was not the first time that the door had been forced open. It was dark. The sunlight spilling in through the doorway glinted off the dust in the air. Artú raced in.

Stella stepped in after the other fearfully. She had the greatest fear of the darkness of them all. Without her powers, she felt completely weak. They saw aisles of crates neatly stacked like bricks. There was nobody. No alarm sounded. The warehouse was badly lit. The only light was from the high windows. It stank terribly of burnt fuel and overpowering mould. They proceeded forward slowly and had only made it several meters before they were blinded by the whitest light. An invisible force pushed them to the ground.

Bloom heard Sky swear and then the twang of heavy metal on concrete before her senses were so overcome with light that had even thought she had died. All of her senses became useless in an instant.

Everyone was aware that something was very wrong. They could feel in the seat of their soul that something was changing. Bloom could only describe it with an inexplicable sixth sense. The air was hot and cold, dry and wet. The deafening wind blew in every direction. Every atom shook nervously. There was a maw in reality as a portal opened before them.

The light abated and the coldest shadow fell upon the four. Abruptly, the gaping hole in reality closed. Their senses were disorientated and it had shaken all of them to their core to be close to such a portal of such magnitude. It was no ordinary portal. It had been a powerful vacuum pulling something towards them. To inspire such fear in them meant that something immense had come travelled across the universe.

Bloom tried to rub the blindness out of her eyes. She became still as a statue. An uncouth stench pervaded the air. It was definitely not too clean. Stella gagged. It was a mix of sweat and earth. She heard the low throaty rumble of a ferocious beast. She looked up. Colours returned to her eyes one by one. The floor trembled beneath her.

She heard Stella gasp. The sun princess recovered best against light while Bloom still struggled. She heard the scrape of metal against the concrete and a muffled cry the constricted her heart. It had sounded like Sky.

"Run!" Sky said.

Bloom felt Sky pull her up roughly in the direction that they had come from. Finally, she could see in the darkness of the warehouse. She looked back and her eyes fell upon a mass of the bluest black fur she had ever seen. Its eyes glowed like golden orbs. Its face was much like a wolf's with a long thin muzzle and a leonine mane of dark crimson hair. Its feet were cloven hooves and its humanoid torso was rippling with muscle. She almost thought that some Hindu god had appeared before them (for it had four arms and a coat of blue fur) had it not for the monstrous ivory horns crowning its head.

The sight was all too familiar.

A minotaur.

Bloom was pulled down a corner and then another and then another until she was sure that they were lost. Without warning, they stopped. She crashed into Sky's arm and he hissed in pain. Their hearts and exhalations were a breathless cacophony of fear.

"What was that thing?" Stella asked. She was afraid to know.

"Minotaur," Brandon said tersely. Thoughts were racing in his head as he tried to comprehend what had happened. He turned to Sky. "You kicked the portal projector away, didn't you?"

Sky nodded. "I saw it on the ground. It looked like a sewer lid but it looked out of place. I wasn't sure if it was pulling us in or bringing something through."

Bloom felt a strange liquid against her face. She touched it and then realised something horrible. Her cheek had brushed up against her fiancé's arm when she had crashed into him. "Sky, where are you bleeding?"

"It cut me on the arm when it saw me first. It has a sword, I think. It can smell my blood, now. Great."

"We need to bandage it now, Sky," she said.

In the dim light, Bloom could see the torn long sleeve become crimson with blood. She panicked and wanted to whisper a healing spell but could not. Sky attempted to rip his damaged sleeve off. Bloom brushed his fingers away with her hands. She ripped the fabric and made a hasty bandage out of it on the blond's arm.

They were all silent listening for them minotaur's approach. They jumped when they saw white obscure the warehouse and the ground shake. The others had made it in. then the ceiling was illuminated with white light in the distance.

The four of them feared the worst. There was a brief shout of surprise and then a roar of great animosity. They waited. Minutes passed by painfully as they hoped everyone was alive.

They were relieved to hear Nabu's voice over their earpieces. "We have a problem. We have a minotaur in here."

Riven jumped into conversation immediately after. "Same here, but with swords."

"So do we," Brandon said. "Three armed minotaurs then."

Sky signalled for him to not mention his wound.

Brandon nodded. "Anyone hurt or missing?"

They both responded negatively.

Their conversation was interrupted by an echoing scream. It was a familiar slightly girlish voice. "Someone, help! Brandon, Flora, Sky, anyone!"

Roxy was still alive!

"You heard that, right? You know what to do then. Avoid minotaurs or neutralise them. Roxy's here. Stay safe. Find her," Sky said. He seemed to be relieved that they still had a chance.

"Affirmative." The line went silent.

Sky moved his injured arm, stretching it.

"Can you keep going?" Bloom fretted.

"I'm fine. It's not deep and I've definitely felt worst." Sky pulled out his phantoblade and swung it experimentally. He had no intention of turning back.

The four of them continued wary of the heavy footfalls of the monsters lurking in the labyrinthine warehouse. They turned down a corner and saw the vague backside of one of the three beasts. It growled menacingly at something.

The four of them winced when they heard the yapping of canine. Artú ran beneath the legs of the blue monster for the four of them cowering behind them. The minotaur turned to look for its prey and saw the unfortunate four.

It charged with unmatched ferocity swinging its swords.

The four of them ran.

OOOO

Roxy felt sick.

Roxy's mind reeled from the sudden new excitement. The indeterminable silence with her captor had been interrupted by sudden explosions of smoke and light. She had been startled when she had heard those inhuman roars. Her captor had pulled her out of her cage and the first thing she had done was scream for the others as loud as she possibly could much to her kidnapper's dismay. In the time before the explosions, they had had a civil conversation about the most contrived things: the weather, food, how he liked Gardenia. She did not learn much about him other than the obvious fact that he was her kidnapper. He did not reveal much either.

The first thing he had done after he had pulled her out of the cage was gag her to prevent her from screaming again. Secondly, he had tossed her over his shoulder and darted into the dizzying maze. She bounced on his shoulder and had an awkward view of the world, which explained her nausea.

She saw him lift up some grating to descend into hole in the floor. She almost vomited when she smelt the muck of sewage assault her nose. Her face was splashed with rancid water as her captor leapt into a stream of water. The gray water sprayed onto face while her captor ran for an indeterminable amount of time. She was ready to start hurling after being tossed about in such an awkward position in such a horrible environment when she saw him ascend a staircase and open a creaking heavy metal door.

She almost fainted from the scent of clean air. He dropped her unceremoniously on the floor of some building. She squirmed to see him seal tight their entrance. It was a rusting door with the paint chipping. Roxy took the opportunity to look around and find out where she was. She was surprised to see that she was in an empty warehouse. There were remnants of some sort of installation. There were broken pipes, tampered breaker panels and shattered windows.

She craned her head to see a dark blue Maybach parked in the emptiness of the massive structure. Her kidnapper held her by her chin and looked her in the eye.

"Don't scream this time. No one will hear you." He removed the gag and pulled up to her feet urging her to move.

Her eyes fell on the Maybach. She could see someone in the driver's side through the tinted glass. The person stepped out as soon as they were a few meters away.

The man was tall and wore a dark gray business suit. His tie was loose and the first two buttons of his button-up shirt were undone. Beneath his collar was a silver choker of a snake that wound around his neck to bite its tail. His dark reddish rose hair was combed to one side but she could see that his hair was supposed to be style as a mohawk. His wore heavy dark makeup around his eyes. There was an avant-garde goth look to him. She was thoroughly confused.

Then she realised who he was: Duman.

She was discombobulated to see him in such a refine and civil outfit but she could see the inhuman cruelty in his eyes when he sized her up like prey.

"Good evening," Duman said. "I suppose that things are moving as expected, Solon." His voice was smooth as polished marble and just as cold.

Roxy's captor grinned. "The minotaurs will distract them long enough for you to speak to her. I'll leave her with you now. Good luck."

Roxy watched Solon leave the warehouse through a different door in the far corner. She then realised that she was all alone with Duman. Her blood turned to ice. She looked around frantically. She wanted to run but she was in an empty warehouse and there was nothing that could help her hide.

Suddenly, the air felt heavier. No, her body felt heavier. Her head ached and her heart pounded painfully in her chest. Every ounce of her body told her to give up. She was engulfed by what she could only describe as Duman's great dark presence as soon as Solon left her sights. It was suffocating to be near the wizard. She felt the handcuffs disappear due out of sheer Duman's will but she could not find the strength or the courage to run. She felt like deer caught in the headlights as Duman eyed at her with the ferocity of a hunter. Even though she had some disbelief towards the existence of magic hidden in the corners of her mind, she could suspend her disbelief enough to understand the vastness of Duman's power. His mere physical body was not enough to contain the enormity of his immense magic and she could smell it float around his body like a musky fog. It was like a thick cologne with hints of smoke and moss that had been sprayed on too thickly.

She was a piddling puddle of fear as Duman made his way to her with hungry strides. Her legs failed her. She was frozen in her place. She could not run away if her life depended on it. He looked like he would maul her; he would tear her body into shreds with his bare hands. She could see a starved wolf's hunger in his eyes. He rejoiced in finally having the last fairy of Earth in his sights.

"Do you feel the power I have, Roxy?" he said calmly looking down on her.

She could not respond. She was too transfixed with terror to formulate a simple response. Her instinct for self-preservation was completely destroyed. Looking at Duman, she knew that she had absolutely no chance of surviving. She averted her eyes and looked at his polished shoes.

He continued. "My power is enough to simply root you to your spot with fear. You know that I can kill you right here and now. The same goes for my brethren. Now, I expect you to cooperate. I will, shall we say, turn off the magic, because you need to be lucid enough to speak."

She could feel the heavy musk withdraw ever so lightly.

She nodded slowly with wide eyes. She yelped when she felt winds of magic shift around her rapidly. Her dusty clothing was suddenly clean and unstained. Her tangled hair combed itself out. The grime that had accumulated slipped off her skin and vanished. Duman had cast a spell to clean her up.

Roxy stood up and took a step back putting some distance between herself and the wizard. Whatever prevented him from attacking her did not mean she could let her guard down.

She heard magic dance on the wind around her and before she could understand what was going on, she found herself in the middle of snobbish parlor room. She was definitely not in Gardenia. There was a generic aristocratic air to it but she could not deny a hint of French baroque. The walls were eggshell white. There was a painting on the wall that looked like a Pissarro, albeit damaged. The fireplace was unlit and windows were open to let the sunshine and wind spill in. The outside looked much like a Monet painting. On the ceiling was a glass chandelier with candles. She felt like she had stepped into a painting. Oddly enough, the furniture was scarce but one by one, they appeared before her eyes. Had she been transported somewhere?

"Sit," Duman said pointing to an ornate gilded chair with red upholstery.

She looked at it with wary mauve eyes.

"Sit," he repeated. This time, unknown forces forced her to sit down.

She shook the magic off her arms. She hated the idea that he had that much power over her. She detested her powerlessness more than ever. If she could, she would beat him to a pulp. She would fight with the ferocity of a beast—no, she wanted to fight badly.

He smirked at her gestures. He was piqued by the capricious teenager before him. He sat on the arm of a couch and conjured a carved table before her. It had a white carafe accompanied by a dozen cups on it with a platter of finger foods in the middle. She could not help but be tempted by the food. She hated him even more for bringing her down to her basest needs. It felt like forever since her last meal. She could not help but think that this was all a dream.

"Tea, Roxy?"

She watched the carafe float in the air and pour its contents into a cup before her. Sugar and cream appeared beside her cup. The aroma was sweet and she resisted as much as she could.

It was probably poisoned, she concluded, all poisoned. She had no reason to trust this man still. While she had taken her chance when her captor had given her food, she was not willing to take that chance with this evil man. She knew without a doubt that this man wanted her for her magic only. Instead, she brashly pushed it all away from her. Without meaning to, the carafe tipped over and splashed over the side of the table. Some of it spilt onto Duman's pants. She gasped.

The man's face changed from unparalleled serenity to hell-like fury. Roxy felt cold metal wrap around her offending arms that pulled that back into her chair with an audible thump. The gold metal slithered around her arms like sinuous snakes and had formed manacles around her arms.

"Let me go!" She struggled futilely. Roxy growled when she was realised that she was trapped again. She was surprised by the idea of making such an inhuman sound. "Why do you want me so badly?"

Duman waved his hand pointing at the mess to clean itself up or disappear into thin air. His clothes dried. He poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip. His bestial irritation had cooled down to a manageable level after a sip. He seemed to be the type of man who had no patience for teenagers.

"Your audacity and courageousness know no bounds but you also have no grace or control. I could have almost gone on my instinct and killed you in that instant but that would have been a setback for us," he remarked. It seemed that he was partly talking to himself. "Originally, we had wanted your powers to achieve immortality and be the most powerful beings on Earth," he said.

"Let me guess: you want the rest of the universe now?"

"Funny, but we are not that ambitious or stupid. We understand that there are limits to godhood." A particularly nasty and sharp knife floated off the table and lingered in front of Roxy's face threateningly. She started to breathe shallowly as the knife's pointed end faced her. "Interrupt me like that again, Roxy, I will slit your wrists and let you bleed to death. There is enough time between then and the moment your heart ceases to beat for my colleagues to arrive and invoke the Black Circle and take your magic away. Understood?" Duman seemed to make a complete personality switch from a barely controlled man to a raging lunatic.

"Yes, I got it."

"Thank you. Understand that for someone like me, who has lived for so long and dabbled with such powerful magic, I am given to madness frequently. Where was I? Right…." Duman sighed somewhat melodramatically. "Roxy, simply said, we would like you join us in our new project. Join us, and we will give you all the answers you are looking for, such as why you are the last fairy on Earth."

"I don't believe you. I have no reason to believe anything you say."

"And yet you believe them, these specialists and fairies not from Earth?" Duman said casually. "Do you even know who they are?"

Roxy looked at him defiantly. "They haven't tried to kill me yet. That's a plus in my book."

"You'd be surprise to know some things about them. Sky is a warlord using our Earth as a sanctuary to hide from people you would not like to find Earth. Bloom is the princess of Domino and a very powerful fairy. She is the wielder of the Dragon Flame, the most powerful force known. One must ask what these two people are doing on Earth. You don't seem to know this. Every single one of them has an interesting dossier that I can tell you about. Isn't odd that we have not been contacted by their obviously much more advanced civilisations?

"The only reason we have not been invaded yet is because Bloom would object it and Sky is using her as the perfect shield to draw attention away from Earth. Anything resembling formal contact and she would reduce it to ashes. She has the power to eradicate our planet into oblivion and yet she doesn't. Do you know why? She grew up here and considers herself one of us. A human! How nauseating. She has taken it upon herself to be Earth's guardian without as much as our consent. What else is there that you should know? Hmmm, she even almost murdered Sky's previous fiancée because she was not too keen on the fact that the man she loves is engaged to another. Tell me, does any of that not seem flawed?"

The pink-haired girl squirmed in her seat as Duman recited sins. She did not quite understand what he was saying but he spoke with a severity that worried her.

She was willing to admit that no one was perfect and that her new friends were no different. She gave them the benefit of the doubt. "How do I know you're not lying?" she said.

"That's the beauty of it all: I'm not lying for once. You have no idea how refreshing it is to tell you this. When you return home, ask them all. The story may be skewed but you will hear the same story. I don't doubt that Sky will lie to you and Bloom will try to cover it up with another story or explain it as the folly of youth. Of course we all do idiotic things as children but I've never attempted murder! Maybe that last part was a lie, but I am certain murder is not a normal folly of youth."

The girl stiffened. She heard the sound of a door closing and the footsteps of other people approach her from behind. She shivered when she felt a cold hand on her head petting her.

"Get your hands off me!"

"This one has fire," Ogron said.

She was horrified to know that he had touched her. She craned her head to see the rest of the Black Circle wizards spread across the room. Surprisingly, they were all dressed formally like businessmen. They seem to have left their daily lives to deal with her—which was a disturbing thought.

Ogron's cadmium red hair was tied back in a neat queue and he wore a pinstripe suit with a severe necktie.

"Did you tell her about our proposition, Duman?" Ogron said. Roxy's ears perked up at the strange turn of the conversation.

"No."

"I don't believe the manacles are necessary," Gantlos said critically of the enchanted chair.

"It was necessary when she decided to throw hot tea at me."

"Unchain the girl already," an irritated Anagan said while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

Roxy felt the braces around her ankles and wrists slip away. She massaged her wrists tenderly. "What is your…proposition?"

"_Schon?__" _Ogron said rather jovially.

Roxy froze. She frightened that she could understand him. These people were worldly men after all. They were educated and knew more than they let on. This did not surprise. Their clothes bespoke of their wealth.

Ogron saw her surprise but did not note it. He observed her carefully and continued to speak. "I'll skip the introductions then. We want those fairies and specialists off of our Earth. While we, the Black Circle, want your powers, we do not want others gallivanting on our planet willy-nilly. We would like to be the only superior beings on Earth. We don't want people who consider us inferior eyeing our planet and finding a justification to invade us. We made our mistake of going after Bloom in Magix and we're here to amend that. Let's keep everything that relates to Earth on Earth, shall we?"

"What do I have to do with this? It was your mistake."

"Indeed, but do you enjoy the idea of those aliens mingling with us? Trying to be one of us?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know very well that they do not come from our Earth. Therefore, they should not be on our Earth. They are destroying our planet's identity by being among us. You saw those fairy pets. They are unnatural to Earth. Do you like the idea of aliens being among us and changing us so much? One day, they will turn on you and this planet. They will destroy you, your father and our race. They will take our Earth for its resources despite being a small planet."

The girls eyes widened in fear and disbelief. Normally, she would have scoffed at such exaggerations but she was not quite sure about what she should believe.

"See? I didn't think that you liked that idea. We want you to convince them to leave for good."

"And then you kill me, right? I'm better off with them," Roxy said fervently.

"Of course you would think that. But see it this way: if you forfeit your life in the end to accomplish our aims, it will only be your life that will be forfeited. If you don't help us, then one day, the human race will be eradicated off the face of our Earth, or if our godly invaders are gifted with any sort of compassion, they may be enslaved. You or the human race, Roxy, which one is it? Which are you willing to lose? Your life or the survival of our race? While you may not understand it, Roxy, we only want you for your powers. If we had wanted to destroy the human race, we would have done it centuries ago, or better yet, we would not be coming to you with this proposition. We would let those friends of yours do it for us and we would stand back and watch."

"How do you know that they would do that to us? What's your proof that they are not better than that?" Roxy defended.

"Roxy, don't mistake them for having a stronger moral fibre than us humans. Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic and discovered the Americas in 1492. Centuries later, most of Europe destroyed the indigenous population of the Americas under the pretense that they were an affront to Christianity. We destroyed the Incan and Aztec civilisation on our own. Or should I speak about that stain on German history: the Jewish Holocaust? While you may not have been born, we four were there to watch the Fuhrer create the Third Reich and march across Europe attempting to cleanse the human race of its impurities. How many people must die before we do something, Roxy? A thousand? Four million? Three billion? How about just yours? If your life had to be sacrificed for the sake of seven billion, would you do it?"

Roxy bared her teeth dangerously. She wanted to wail on Ogron but knew that she would accomplish nothing. She knew that somewhere in his blacken wizened soul that he could care less about the lives of other people. It just seemed to fit his persona much better than a compassionate man who was evil but considerate and reasonable. "And if I don't go with this plan?" she asked.

"You die right now. Your friends are looking for you, Roxy. We saw them scouring the factories for you. If we invoke the Black Circle now, your friends will be too late to save you. Die now or die later? Which do you prefer?"

"And you win in the end anyways," she said hoarsely.

"Yes, but victory is not everything. We like the minutiae of a carefully laid plan. I believe you understand the saying is 'It's not the destination but the journey that counts.' What is your decision?" Ogron seemed to enjoy torturing the girl. There was a wide smile on his thin face as he watched her squirm under his scrutiny.

Gantlos spoke up. He seemed to see through the wall behind Roxy. "Ogron, they are coming to retrieve her."

"I…I…" Roxy stammered. It was all too much for a girl of her age to handle. She wanted her seat to swallow her up. His proposal was unquestionably insane and no matter what she did, it ended with her dying.

She did not want to die!

It was unfair! Why did she have to die? She did not imagine that being a fairy would entitle her this kind of treatment. If God existed, he most definitely hated her because he had given her such a horrible hand.

"I was hoping that you would come up with a decision tonight but you are a child still," Ogron said compassionately—if that was possible.

"Give her some time, Ogron," Gantlos said. "They're running around but they have her dog with them," the blond wizard said looking off in the distance.

Artú? Her dog was here? Roxy turned to look around for whatever Gantlos could see.

The red-haired man sighed, combing a hand through his hair. He undid the elastic and shook his head. His hair fell about his shoulder. He looked slightly dazed, as if relishing the idea of an impending battle with the fairies and specialists. He pulled her up by the arm. "We will resume this conversation another time."

Duman flicked a wrist and the glamour of the fancy white room broke to reveal the decrepit gray warehouse from before. She saw their clothes change to their accustomed leather suits and jackets. She felt the magic permeate in the air. It smelled thick and tasted wet. She looked at the same door that she and her captor had come through apprehensively. She could sense the impending battle coming.

Without warning, the door was blasted off its hinges and a deluge of water came through.

* * *

><p><strong>Latter Notes:<strong> Yeah, it's been a while. I just finished writing a translation analysis on a chapter of _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_. I have been out of the loop for a while.

**Translations:**

_"Schon?"_ = "Already?"


End file.
